


Lord of the Shadows

by IndigoDream



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Greek Gods AU, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hades!Magnus, M/M, Persephone!Alec, light depiction of torture, light depiction of violence, short fic, under 1k
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 00:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20349364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoDream/pseuds/IndigoDream
Summary: Gods aren't always what their reputation says they are. Gods of Death are most often kinder than gods of the Living, Gods from Above are overzealous and much to lazy. Persephone, from his husband's seat, has realized that long ago.





	Lord of the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is a short one shot, my own take on the Persephone/Hades relationship with a Malec twist. 
> 
> Hope you'll enjoy!
> 
> Don't hesitate to leave a comment, they are a writer's joy!

They call him Lord of the Dead nowadays. They say he lurks and crawls around the living and pulls their souls with him to the Underworld. It’s incredible, the things they say. When would he have the time? They say he’s evil and manipulative, that he takes cruelly and without an ounce of pity or compassion. They say so many wrong things, and he hears them all.

Alec knows better than that. He’s seen his tears when he welcomes in the soul of a child, how he embraces soldiers with words of reassurances and caresses the cheek of mothers who will never see their child grow up. He is as much a god of the Living as a god of the Dead. How else could the tremors that agitate his hands every night be explained? As old as the world, and still, a soul kinder than a child’s. There are only two moments when his face hardens and the ghostly pallor of the dead shines through.

The first is every ten days, when he visits _them_ to make sure they are still there, imprisoned in their shackles, far from their original glory. The titans have lost the war many years before even Alec was born; there were no seasons back then, and his mother was barely more than a child herself. Now, they stand in the pits of Tartarus, their eyes gauged out but refilling every single day a bit more until they explode again on the tenth day, their screams rattling the earth around their cell. Their hands, large and monstrous, are bound tighter than anything else is on any of the worlds. The most frightening one is Cronos.

The second time his husband, the Lord of the Dead, the Great Carrier of All Unworldly Matters, hardens his personality and shape until it looks like he has been carved out of the finest marble, is when his brothers summon him, or when they come to their domain. There is hatred between them, but they have an arrangement of sort. Alec’s mother is of their race, one of the Six Great, but she has always said there is more bad blood between the three Kings than between the three Queens. Alec will never understand what it is really, this divide. He doesn’t really strive to. What matters to him is to stay by Magnus’ side.

They are an odd couple. Alec has the title of Kore or Persephone, ruling over spring and summer, making the earth bloom and grow anew with each passing year. Magnus is Hades, King of the Underworld. Everyone expects Alec to be the nice one, to be sweet and carefree, just like the fields he oversees. They don’t know him. They have no idea of the harshness that hides underneath the soft hazel eyes. Magnus is much kinder.

Magnus always say that death is much kinder than life to the soul, and after years of marriage, Alec has realized that he is right. Their kingdom, besides the parts that lay hidden for the tortured souls, is a beautiful place. The weather is always pleasant, although it always shines brighter and harsher when Alec gets angry. He is the god of thunderous summer, of heatwaves and crashing wind. The sun bows before him in the summer. He chose Magnus, and will choose him a hundred times over and over.

So yes. They are an odd couple. But they are proud and righteous. The underworld is kinder to the souls than the earth ever has been or will be.

Magnus rules with an iron hand, but the mortals fear Alexander. They fear his bad temper, his anger. Death is, at least, a certainty. But who is to say whether Persephone will choose to favor them that year? Alec’s mother may be the goddess of harvest, even she cannot control her son’s moods and anger.

They had seen it, when she had attempted to keep him and Magnus apart. Olympus and the very essence of the world had shaken from the little god’s fury. And Zeus has not dared go against Hades.

They are gods, after all. When they seek refuge in the arms of each other, mortals weep and praise their bonded souls, their eternal glory. When they are separated, Olympus counts the days until they can be together again.

On the first day of spring, the god of the underworld can be found at the gates of his kingdom. He is solemn and dark, dressed with a crown of wilted flowers and thorns. He kisses his lover one last time and each time, Alec knows he takes with him parts of Magnus’ soul. They are one, forever and until the end of time.

On the last day of summer, the crown above Hades’ head blooms as Persephone steps foot in the underworld. Everything blooms again. And, if anyone dares to listen to the two gods, they would hear the soft reassurances and the declarations of love. But most important of all—

“Welcome back, Alexander,” Magnus whispers.

And, invariably, with a lingering kiss, Alec will answer, “Take me home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr, I'm @ holygayarchie (main blog) or @ saltytransmalec (writing sideblog). If you want to commission something, there are infos on those two pages about it :)


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